Skulduggery Pleasant: Corruption
by IOnlyLive2Write
Summary: The Church of the Faceless and Anti-Sanctuary have banded together, becoming the biggest threat Skulduggery and the gang have faced. Supreme Mage China Sorrows has assembled the most powerful sorcerers in the world to combat them, including the Teleporter, Caine Unscrupulous. Set after Resurrection, so spoilers. This is a SYOC(Submit Your Own Character). T for violence and language
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hey guys please enjoy, this is also my first fanfiction so no flames please (now I wish i was Vindick Leather)**

 **Chapter 1**

He stumbled over a rock, almost losing his footing. If he did, they would catch him, and he didn't want to imagine what could happen to him if they did. Caine Unscrupulous could've teleported if it wasn't for the sigil they had carved into his back before he escaped. It would wear off in time, but Caine had to keep running.

Caine, of course, wasn't running with no plan. Caine Unscrupulous did _nothing_ without a plan. For now, he would keep having to stay away from his pursuers and mime panting and scared looks until he could carry out said plan.

The desirable location was a narrow back alley. Caine pretended he was out of breath and stopped. They approached him, wary of the fact it could be a feint.

Caine leapt into the air as the gauntlet on his wrist glowed and a gleaming sword appeared in his hand. He kicked at the first one, catching him across the jaw, causing him to crumpled. The second one unholstered a gun. Caine grimaced. Why couldn't everyone be like him, guns were cheating, firing from a distance was really _unfair_.

The first shot narrowly missed his head. Caine was almost offended; why didn't the Church send somebody important, like Crypt, or Teal. Why three unprofessionals who probably had just joined the Church.

Caine flipped off a wall, the hilt of his sword smashing against the guys skull. There was a sickening crack and he dropped to the floor. The last one looked like he was about to try to run. "I'm giving you a chance," Caine said in a strong British accent, "Be like those guys, or go back to your Church."

Like Caine predicted, he turned and fled. "I told you, Valkyrie," said a smooth voice from the shadows, "he didn't need our help."

"I told you, Valkyrie," Skulduggery Pleasant said, "he didn't need our help."

Valkyrie Cain saw young man, maybe a couple of years older than her, emerge from the shadows. He was tall and tanned, with spiky black hair and dark, glinting eyes.

The boy spun around at the sound of Skulduggery's voice. "They sent more of you, eh?" he said, in an accent similar to Fletcher, "Let's get this over with then!"

"Wait!" Valkyrie said, "We aren't trying to hurt you!"

"Well then, tell me who the hell you are!"

Skulduggery stepped forward as his fake face melted away, leaving just a skull.

"The Skeleton Detective," he said, in a less harsh tone.

"A pleasure, as always," Skulduggery said, "You are Caine Unscrupulous, I take it?"

"The one and only," Caine grinned, "So this young lady is Valkyrie Cain. I didn't know you two still worked together. Now I know who you are, I think I can trust you, but what do you want with me?"

"Get in the car and we'll tell you on the way to the Sanctuary."

"Please don't be one of the replacement cars," Caine muttered.

"You've seen the replacement cars?" Valkyrie said.

"Yeah," Caine said, "there was this horrible yellow car, back when he still needed his hat-and-scarf disguises."

When he saw the Bentley, Caine whistled in appreciation.

"Thank god."

They got into the Bentley and as Skulduggery started driving, he began to talk, "Caine, Supreme Mage China Sorrows requested help from you. She is recruiting the most powerful Mages in the world to combat the Church of the Faceless. We have a list, in fact, of the people who we need."

Skulduggery handed Caine as long sheet of paper.

 _Skulduggery Pleasant. Valkyrie Cain. Caine Unscrupulous. Tanith Low. Fletcher Renn. Saracen Rue. Dexter Vex. Donegan Bane. Gracious O'Callahan. Aurora Jane. Frightening Jones. Dai Maybury. Creyfon Signate. Myosotis Terra. Temper Fray. Richard Melior. Geoffrey Scrutinous. Philomena Random. Flynn Shroud. Calliope Remorse. Jayden Glaze. Crimson Steele._

"I don't know who the last four are," Skulduggery said after Caine finished reading.

"Jayden and Crimson are friends of mine," Caine said, "But I don't know Shroud and Remorse either. But anyway, you said something about the Church."

"Yes, actually," Skulduggery said, "They have been working with a group we know as an anti-Sanctuary."

"Anti-Sanctuary?"

"We don't know their real name," Valkyrie said , finally speaking, "We only know that the members are Nero, a Teleporter, Cadaverous Gant, a Neoteric with a _special_ discipline and a woman named Razzia."

"Gant?" Caine said, "Dammit, I thought I hadn't killed him."

"You've met Gant?"

"Once. But it wasn't a very friendly one."

"Is it possible to have a friendly meeting with Cadaverous Gant?"

"Can we go back to the topic please?" Caine asked.

"Of course," Valkyrie said, "you may have heard of Alexander Crypt. He can drain magic from anyone, dead or alive. We think they may have recovered Azzedine Smoke's body and used his magic. Sorcerers everywhere have been going missing for a few days, then re-emerging as psychos obeying Crypt's every command."

"Caine," Skulduggery said, "please tell us about yourself, like how you eluded the Diablerie, and who Jayden Glaze and Crimson Steele are."

"With pleasure. Sit back, relax and enjoy-"

"Caine," Valkyrie said, exasperated, "just get to the point. It is bad enough having Skulduggery talk all the time."

Caine grinned sheepishly, "Alright then. A week before it started a friend of mine, he was a Sensitive by the way, warned me about a purge of Teleporters."

"Who was the Sensitive?" Skulduggery interrupted, "None of ours saw the threat."

"His name was Lyric Reverse," Caine said, then frowned, "And don't bother trying to find him, he's in a coma."

"How?"

Caine said one word that made Valkyrie go cold, "Darquesse."

Caine must've noticed Valkyrie stiffen when he said, "Don't worry. That was Darquesse, not you. I think it is unfair how you are blamed for what she did."

"It was impossible for anyone to escape. The Diablerie used Sigils to track every Teleporter on Earth."

"That's just it. I wasn't on Earth. I stowed away on a NASA spacecraft."

"Clever."

"I am, aren't I."

"So," Valkyrie said, "Would you mind telling us about Jayden Glaze and Crimson Steele?"

"Jayden is an American Wall-Walker. We met when the British Sanctuary paired us together to track down Cadaverous Gant. We became close friends after that. Crimson and I have a long history. Me, her and Lyric were childhood friends, all from sorcerer families. Crimson is an Elemental but she still carries a gun, sometimes I think she does it to irritate me. But she disappeared a year ago. One day she said she had to find someone, but she never came back."

"Well, that's inconvenient."

"Where are we even going?"

"We have a meeting with the Supreme Mage."

"Ah, Supreme Leader China Sorrows."

Valkyrie frowned, "I'm not sure she'd like to hear you say that."

"And?"

"Good point."

The rest of the journey was in silence, mostly, due to the fact both Skulduggery and Caine were in the car.

 **Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please submit ideas in the comments and remember, this is a SYOC.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and thanks for the reviews.**

 **Chapter** **2**

"The Teleporter escaped!" Strife Teal growled, slamming his fist on the table which himself, Alexander Crypt, Creed and Barren, the man sent to recapture Caine, who was shaking like a tree in a storm, "You let the damn Teleporter escape!"

"I'm sorry, master Teal," stammered Barren, "he was better than all of us."

"Maybe he's right," Crypt said, "maybe we should've gone ourselves."

"True," said Teal, "But still, this is the third assignment you've failed. Also, you never succeeded an assignment. And do you know what that means?"

"Oh no. Please. I'll succeed the next one. Please."

"Too late for that," Teal said as purple streams started to course through his arms.

Purple goo shot from his hands and Barren, literally, was vaporised.

"We still have the Elemental in custody," Crypt said, "we can't have her escaping like the Teleporter did."

"Double the amount of guards on her cell and put more binding Sigils," Creed said, "Crimson Steele will never get out."

When Darquesse had almost killed him, the Remnant inside Dexter Vex had died but Vex survived. But not without injuries. For three years, Vex had been in intensive care, with almost every bone fractured and ruptured arteries.

In the time he'd been healing, Vex missed out a lot, according to his old friend Aurora Jane. Valkyrie Cain had disappeared and only recently returned. Finbar Wrong and Cassandra Pharos and ten other Sensitives were killed by a group known as the Anti-Sanctuary. Erskine Fucking Ravel had been killed, thrown into the overloading Accelerator by Skulduggery Pleasant. But now he was on a private jet with Aurora and Saracen. They were going back to Ireland, recently returning from sorting out issues with the American Grand Mage.

Saracen kept talking to Aurora who responded by rolling her eyes but smiling slightly. None of them spoke to him though, and he was happy that way.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard up ahead and they all jumped in shock.

"Saracen, what was that?" Aurora asked.

Saracen was silent for a moment then said, "A helicopter behind us with seven people, one with a rocket launcher."

"Rocket launcher?"

"Damn."

Vex opened up a window as his hand began to glow. He couldn't get a clear shot because of the helicopters constant moving. Aurora was trying to manipulate the winds but to no avail.

One rocket hit the Jet's wing, severing it. The plane dipped and begun to fall. Another hit the plane and the engine started to smoke.

"You're magic won't work!" Saracen yelled, "one of them is creating a shield!"

The plane started to catch fire.

"Jump!" Aurora cried.

They didn't need to. The plane's side was incinerated and they fell out.

"Aurora!" Saracen shouted, "Use your magic!"

Aurora nodded and suddenly they slowed as they reached the ground.

"Where are we?"

"Definitely Ireland, near the middle, in a large forest and there is nobody around but I can see a small cabin a kilometre from here."

"Let's go there," Vex said, "maybe somebody lives there."

Half an hour later, the cabin came in to view. It was small and entirely made out of wood.

"Excuse me," said a female voice behind them, "What are you doing at my home?"

Vex turned around to see a pretty girl probably in her late twenties. She was slim and muscular and had waist length black hair. The girl wore a black jacket, tight jeans and combat boots.

"You live here?" Saracen asked.

"Yes," she was clearly Irish.

"Who are you?" Aurora asked.

"The name's Courtney Bera," she said, then pointed to Saracen, "Aren't you Saracen Rue?"

"Guilty as charged," Saracen said, "and these are my accomplices, Dexter Vex and Aurora Jane."

"I'm meeting two of the Dead Men?" Courtney said, eyes widening.

"Look," Vex said, "as much as I enjoy staying here, talking to a fan, we need to get out of here before some bad people arrive."

As if on cue, at least two dozen masked figures dropped from the sky, all wearing the symbol of the Church of the Faceless.

"Oh no," Courtney said, "they found me."

They were surrounded. Even skilled fighters like the former Dead Men and Aurora Jane couldn't win against two dozen men pointing guns at their heads.

Courtney disappeared. Everyone looked around in shock, then three of the men fell, necks snapped. And then chaos ensued. Aurora and Saracen worked together, Aurora lifting them up with her magic, and Saracen finishing them off with a bullet to the head. Vex shot multiple streams of energy at them, anyone who tried to get close got a three fingered blow to the throat as a reward for bravery. Courtney fought like a demon. She had taken a hunting knife out but it was nothing but a blur as she cut through enemies, disappearing and reappearing.

The clearing was littered with corpses several minutes later.

"Well, spring cleaning is going to be a pain."

Saracen, who was leaning over a man, stood up and said, "This man just gave a radio transmitted message saying your appearance, your discipline and your coordinates. I don't think it will be safe here anymore."

"He's right," Aurora said, "maybe you should come with us."

Courtney's face brightened, "Really? I'd love to!"

"How far is it to Dublin?" Vex asked.

"I'll drive you there," Courtney said and led them to an old Land Rover, battered and dented, "I knew I'd have to leave this place sometime."

She gave one last wistful look at the cabin before starting the car and driving to Dublin.

 **So yeah, I'm using sparrowfliessouthforthewinter's character as a major character because she was the first to submit a character (Jesus Christ I'm overusing the word 'character'). Never mind. Strife Teal's power was based of F.A.N.G from Street Fighter, a game I've been playing recently. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember, don't read this whilst driving, spontaneous bursts of joy will erupt and you** ** _will_** **crash.**


	3. ANNOUNCEMENT

_**ANNOUNCEMENT**_

 **OH GOD I AM SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED FOR SO LONG! I TOTALLY FORGOT BECAUSE OF OTHER INTERESTS AND SCHOOL BULLSHIT! I PROMISE TO UPLOAD MORE FREQUENTLY AND I HOPE THE PEOPLE WHO READ MY FIRST CHAPTERS HAVENT FORGOTTEN THIS STORY!**

 **ANYWAY THE NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING. BYE.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Again I apologise for not updating for so long. but here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER 3**

Tanith couldn't close her eyes without seeing the bloodstained corpse of Billy Ray Sanguine or hear Valkyrie Cain saying to her, just after she'd been freed from the Remnant, "Ghastly is dead".

She had left Ireland and gone back to Britain, hoping to find happiness: but none came. She thought of Ghastly, and the friends she left behind, Valkyrie, Skulduggery and Fletcher. Her thoughts often drifted to Sanguine and how he'd helped her when she had the Remnant inside of her. Sure he had been a psychopath but he had cared about her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door. She ignored it at first but froze when she heard a familiar voice, "I know you're in there Tanith, I need to speak to you." It was Valkyrie.

The door opened and the girl who had been a sister to her walked through. Tanith's eyes widened and she ran forwards and embraced Valkyrie. "Why did you come?" Tanith whispered, tears in her eyes.

"We need you, Tanith", Valkyrie said, "Its been too long. We are all still mourning Ghastly, but you need too move on."

"Why do you need _me?_ " Tanith asked.

"Long story short, the Faceless Ones' disciples who want to bring their gods back _again_ and we need you to help beat them. They are somehow recruiting hundreds of normal sorcerers and we believe they are using some sort of mind control to use them. So please, come with me."

Tanith hesitated then nodded her head. Valkyrie smiled, "Its good to have you back."

They walked out of the house together, Tanith picking up her sword and feeling like she had once did.

...

Crimson Steele was tied to a chair with shackles binding her magic. Strife Teal was sitting opposite her, his arms folded. "Tell me everything about Caine Unscrupulous."

But Crimson just stared at him with defiant eyes, "Go fuck yourself."

Calmly, Teal pressed a button and Crimson's seat crackled and suddenly she screamed in pain. "I do not appreciate profanity," Teal said in his Welsh accent, "Tell me and you could avoid this pain."

Still, Crimson said nothing. Teal's eyes turned hard and he jabbed his finger on the button. Crimson jerked in her seat and yelled. 'Just tell me and I will let you go!" Teal growled angrily.

Crimson spat blood, threw back her ginger hair and folded her arms. She was weakening but she wouldn't let it show. Teal sighed and held his finger down on the button and watched while Crimson thrashed and screamed.

Finally, Flynn Shroud had enough. "I'm going in," he said to his partner, Calliope Remorse.

"Don't die," she muttered as Flynn climbed down the ladder.

...

"Do not move an inch," said a hard voice behind Teal. At least 20 Cleavers were behind him, led by a blonde man with a gun pointed at him.

"Let the girl go," he said and Teal decided to comply, being out numbered, 21 to 1. He waved his hand and the shackles melted away. Then he raised his hands and said: "Leave."

The man instructed three Cleavers to stay with Teal then left. It could have been her imagination but she could have sworn one of the Cleavers shimmered and vanished for a split second. Teal froze and remembered something. He took a small mirror out of his pocket and saw himself only in the room. He was right. Flynn Shroud had arrived to rescue Crimson Steele and use his magic to make it appear he had brought a squad with him. Strife Teal had been fooled.

...

Crimson was seriously slowing them down but Flynn had to cut her some slack, being imprisoned and tortured for several weeks. He heard footsteps behind him and saw figures clad in black clothing, led by none other than Strife Teal.

"Shit" Flynn muttered and prepared to fight.

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUN! CLIFFHANGER! This is the first chapter I have released in a while so my writing skills are a little rusty but I hope you enjoy anyway! Bye for now!**


End file.
